Community Question: Teaching Math Facts

Community Question is a category inspired by you. Here and there readers write in with questions that are better served by the varied, experiential knowledge of those who read and contribute in the comments.

—————————————————–

The following question is from Sandee H:

“I have both a granddaughter and grandson, ages 7 and 8. They are learning math facts. Are there different ways of teaching? They both would rather not work on them, and I know it is because it doesn’t come easy. Two different families. Boys are wiggling, not seeming to pay attention. Girls are daydreaming and distracted. Have any hints for help?”

Does this sound familiar? How are you teaching math facts in your household?

Heather Sanders

Hi. I’m Heather, a freelance writer living in Huntsville, a smallish town on the tail-end of the East Texas Pineywoods.
Twenty years ago, I married Jeff, the love of my life, and shortly after, we chose to “go forth and multiply.” We have three kids: Emelie, Meredith and Kenny. We homeschool. It's what we do, and it works for us.
Tired of feeling overwhelmed, we recently "faithsized" our family into a 960 square foot lake cabin in need of renovation. I write at HeatherSanders.com about faith and simplifying your desires so you can be content right here and right now

As I teach my oldest son math facts, I have learned to incorporate some type of outdoor activity. His current favorite is doing math on the driveway with sidewalk chalk. I will write the math sentences and he write the answers. I also draw a huge hundred chart on the driveway. As I call out math facts, he jumps to the answers then call it out. This has worked very well for us with math and other school subjects. If he’s answered most/all of the facts properly, he gets to rinse the driveway off with the hose.

http://www.DaleFamilyFarms.com Andi

I’ve taught math for almost 20 years in the middle school and high school. First, I want to stress how important knowing facts are for future ease of learning. Math facts are to higher level math what sight words are to reading. If kids don’t know their basic facts, they get bogged down thinking about these things than the bigger picture in the more advanced problems.

Now that’s off my chest. Find ways to practice that don’t feel like practice – at least some of the time. Play games. Do something – like the previous poster mentioned. One of my favorites was to get out the dominos and play war. Each player flips a domino and has to add/multiply to the two sets of pips. High score wins and gets to keep the dominos. One with the most dominos wins. Go online and search for other games like this that has kids practicing while playing.

http://www.iliveinanantbed.blogspot.com I Live in an Antbed

Oh my, do we have “math fact” stories! Because it is one of those things that really is needed, but simply a matter of rote memory, we tried to mix things up. We have used flashcards, number wraps, drill software, timed pages, and competitive games. Offering some sort of reward when they know them automatically helps.

Our youngest adopted son spent over a year learning all four sets. Nothing worked. UNTIL I told him that, unless he learned them before we left on one of our epic road trips, he would be required to work on them while we drove, (while all his siblings who had already learned their facts, got to ride with the cousins and do the “fun stuff” we always plan for long drives). He knew I was serious. He learned all four sets IN A WEEK!!! Sometimes, we have to give them a deadline that they will respect so that, if you have a reluctant learner, they will require it of themselves.

http://walkworthy.us/wblog Liz in OK

We also use chalk outside, or toss a ball back & forth while skip-counting. Inside we use small marker boards & dry-erase markers a lot for math practice. We’ve enjoyed the math books that have to do with chocolate (fractions with Hershey’s bars, sorting with M&M’s – titles start with Hershey’s or M&Ms) & other fun math books (www.livingmath.net has oodles of ideas put together by a fellow homeschool mom).

We’ve also used the ipad (bought a used one cheaper) & the boys practice with RocketMath & MathBoard. I wish I knew of a great multiplication app (or online videos) that would play the multiplication tables the way I had to listen to them over & over & over & over back in 1970-something (on records).

It starts simple and the kids do not move along until they have mastered the facts. It only takes around 10 minutes a day and the kids think it is so much more fun than the Saxon daily sheets or flashcards.

Tracy in IL

This works every time for those facts that just won’t stick (usually in the 6, 7, 8,and 9 range): pick one and write it on a card that the child keeps in his/her pocket. All day, before they can ask you for anything, they have to tell you that fact. Before noon it won’t need to come out of the pocket anymore. Do one a day like that and before long they are all in there.

Jessica

We use RightStart Math and I have really appreciated the math games that come with this curriculum (you can also buy the cards and instruction book separately to supplement). My son is a wiggly 5 year old, but he loves the games and gets very excited when we play. The games are awesome at “drilling” facts without the boring repetition of flash cards.

http://serenadesandsolace.blogspot.com/ Catherine

I really like that idea Tracy in IL. 🙂

Another way is to use some style of story telling or a song to help. “Times Tales” and “Times Alive” are products that use these and have helped here.

I’ve also made up card games as was already mentioned, and pulled out games like “Yatzee” that require math.

http://www.goodreads.com/fw2books farmwifetwo

Math is easy. Unfortunately people assume it’s not and most are not taught correctly. I still credit my Gr 4 to 6 teachers for teaching me and the reason I have an engineering degree.

My eldest has been taught using linear learning, rewriting and all the “tricks”. I redid the Gr 3 curriculum using Saxon Math and some of 4 and 5… now at 7 it’s “easy Mom”. Without Gr 3 mastery it’s always going to be hard.

The youngest (10) knows addition but for whatever reason has decided not to memorize the facts. Yet, he absorbs words. Gotta love autism 🙂

He gets a calculator at home (let’s not talk about school….) and for whatever reason started memorizing math facts a few weeks ago. I did him the 100 test (0+0 to 9+9) in his Saxon Math Gr 2 book and he got 9 wrong, 10 missed (tired of doing it) and he did it in his order not the sheets.

IMO repeat, repeat, repeat…. add, sub, mult, div are the most important things you will ever teach a child. Without knowing the basic facts at your finger tips… math is and will always be… HARD.

Stephanie

I don’t have any great suggestions as I’m struggling through this with my 3rd grade son right now. His teacher did recommend the website http://www.multiplication.com and they have a bunch of different games that all have to do with multiplication. He comes home from school and asks to get on and play those games. Like I said we are still working on them but he enjoys playing those games.

Angela D.

I have one great memory of learning math from second grade. My teacher would have all of us stand and we’d have a sort of math bee, He wrote a bunch of basic math fact problems on banana shaped flash cards, and we would all take turns answering them. If we got the correct answer, we could feed that banana to the giant cardboard gorilla (Julius from the book) in the room. If we got the wrong answer we’d have to sit and it would go on until the last person standing was the winner. It was so much fun!

http://www.homecookedhealthy.com homecookedhealthy

I have a young son who has lots of wiggles (normal for a boy his age!). If it’s interactive and on the go he learns so much better. I write down math problems on a index cards and then we make up different games to play. His favorite is relays. The cards are laid out face down at the end of the hallway. I set a timer and he races to the cards, selects one, brings it back and answers the problem. He continues until all of the cards are selected AND answered correctly. We keep “race” stats recorded so he can see how much faster he gets each time. Another game we play is hide & seek with the cards. I’ll hide them in a room and he has to race to find and bring back with the answer.

If you just watch what kind of games your children like to play it’s easy to adapt this to what they find as fun.

Meredith B.

Veritas Press (www.veritaspress.com) sells CD’s with math facts set to music. They are FANTASTIC! Also having the kids drill each other make games out if it. Maybe even make a chart where when they learn a particular set of facts (like the 2 times table) they advance to the next level with stickers and maybe some minor rewards. When I was a classroom teacher I made clubs for each time table and when the mastered each set they got to join the club and it came with special rewards/privileges like more play time outside, getting to be first in line at lunch, etc. You could really be creative employing this strategy at home.

It is a super fun game and the graphics are amazing. It requires mastery before the kiddos can advance in the computer game. There are free versions for multiplication as well as division. Addition and subtraction are in the works.

I have tried lots of different computer games. This one is so far ahead of the competition that it isn’t even a fair contest.

It is fun! It is addictive! It works!

http://notesfromamama.blogspot.com Kristy

I write math facts on my daughter’s hands. She sees them all day and it reminds me to ask her for them. She thinks it is fun to have the writing (though I’m sure some kids wouldn’t like it) on her hands.

http://www.discovertexasonline.com Lynn

Such great ideas! Wish I’d had this community when my son was struggling to learn his facts. One thing we did that worked well another writer has already mentioned. We chalked a number line on the patio and he played hop-scotch as I called out the facts. “Jump two. Now jump four more squares. Where are you? Two and four are six.” So many young learners, especially boys, are tactile. They absorb learning when they are physically active.

To learn number families (all the combinations that add up to, say, nine), we put together Lego sticks using different colors–one red and eight blues, two reds and seven blues. We also made our own game by putting Othello disks in a container. Students take turns shaking and spilling until someone comes up with every combination.

Kath

+JMJ+

Friendly competition – with incentive! – seems to bring out the “math genius” in kids, especially boys. A mom in a homeschool co-op I belonged to started a “24 Game” club for the boys during the winter months in preparation to enter the locally-sponsored “24 Game” at the nearby community college in the Spring. The kids could compete for various prizes, at different age and ability levels. It was a great hit! “24 Game” is a series of game card decks that require that you “make the number 24 using the four numbers on a game card.” (direct quote from box). You must use all four numbers, in whatever order, but you can only use each number on the card once, and you must use the math processes listed for the cards (i.e. addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, algebra, etc.). Speed and accuracy were key. Fun and math skills were the result. Here is a web link for “24 Game” (www.24game.com).

I would also suggest “Brain Age” math games on a Nintendo DS. All my kids love them. My husband and I do, too. The kids try to beat our scores. We “try” to beat theirs. 🙂

Jennifer

We play math checkers–I printed out a blank checkers board and filled it with numbers, and to move your guy from, say, 6 to 8, you need to multiply them (for my 2nd grader) or add them (for the 1st grader).

I like the keep one fact in your pocket idea!

http://wendyloudesigns.blogspot.com WendyLou

Oh my!! I have used the Math Facts in a Flash system from Little Giant Steps for years!! My oldest two (now 14 and 12) went thru all four operations. I was very pleased with how easily they learned their facts, especially multiplication. Can you imagine learning all those multiplication facts with NO tears?!? I’m starting the program all over again with my younger two.

This system is appealing for all the learning styles — visual (not your ordinary flash cards), auditory (auditory input CDs), and kinesthetic (fine motor). Do I sound like a commercial yet?

My son (6) uses the curriculum Math-U-See. I appreciate the visual learning style, and the blocks make it fun for him. He also loves the board game Sum Swamp, when he plays it he doesn’t even realize he is practicing math skills.

http://www.thyhandhathprovided.com You Can Call Me Jane

With my daughter (who is wiggly and easily distracted), I give her a token (a small colored block) for every fact (or word- we use this for tough reading words, too) she gets right on the first try. If she gets it wrong, I get the block. At the end of our stack of flashcards, she puts her blocks in groups of 5 (more math) and she gets to put one sticker on her sticker page for every five blocks. We’ve just started doing this a couple weeks ago as she was having trouble getting motivated after Christmas break. It gives her a little incentive to try harder and so far it’s working.

When my son was younger, we made piles of the facts he got right and wrong. If he got 20 right, I’d have to do 20 jumping jacks. He had to do the number he got wrong. He was very motivated to see me jump around like a ninny. This worked well for him and it built in a little exercise time for me:-).

Rebecca

There are lots of great ideas already. I think especially with boys it is important to “sneak” it in with games and fun instead of drilling with worksheets and flashcards all the time. I like to use time in the car for that kind of drilling because there are few distractions and little else to do anyway. They don’t seem to fight it as much. One thing that worked well for me with my boys was to teach them to skip count 2s, 5s and 10s and then use money to work on addition and subtraction. Money, especially coins, seem to be mesmerizing for kids. Play money works but real money is better. Then once they get the hang of it you can play games like store. It doesn’t have to elaborate. They can buy the ingredients for snacks and meals from the pantry, the items for a craft. You can also round up the prices at the grocery store and have them help keep track and figure prices and deals. When you get home, they can figure out how many coins it would take to buy their favorite item. Drilling is important and must be done. But using math and seeing how it functions in the real world is important too. For my family it has been the combination that has made math stick.

http://cowpattysurprise.blogspot.com Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise)

Oh sweetie, This Ozark Farm Chick is a retired educator and there are so many, many ways to teach math. Cookin’ is great, ya can double or triple recipes to multiply, get a hands on in fractions. Cut things in halves, quarters…plus ya get to eat the project.

Some kiddos are vision learners and blocks, beads, rocks, most any thing that might interest your youngen and work on whatever equations that’s up for the day.

One student loved doin’ math in a sand pan. I made a white bottomed container and poured colored sand into it. The possibilities are endless girl.

From the happy hills and hollers of the sunny Missouri Ponderosa, ya’ll have a most magnificently blessed and beautiful day now….ya hear!!!